Same AULD LANG SYNE
by Boneslvr38
Summary: A little holiday story. Booth is depressed. Read why and see what happens.
1. Chapter 1

****Disclaimer: I do not own anything with BONES or any songs in my stories. I just love Booth and Bones love story. ****

**Author's Note: A little holiday story. I was going to make it a one shot but the ending changed as I wrote it. I was going to put as one of my Lyrical Summaries but while writing this it just changed so it is it's own story. Hope you enjoy it. Feedback always welcome. Thanks for reading. ENJOY!**

It was the holiday week between Christmas and New Year's. Booth was alone. Rebecca had taken Parker to Aspen with her latest boyfriend. The guy's name had slipped Booth's mind and at this point Booth didn't really care.

Hannah had been on assignment for the last two weeks and she wasn't expected back until the New Year.

And Bones…  
What could he say about Bones? What kind of friend has he been? He was trying so hard to make it with Hannah, he left his friends out in the cold especially Bones. Booth hadn't seen Bones in a least a week, because they hadn't had a case. He wanted to call her, but he thought better of it. He didn't want her to think that SHE was second best. SHE was far from second best, she was the standard. She still is the standard. But he wasn't going to call her, just because he was lonely and feeling sorry for himself. _"He brought this all on himself,"_ he thought to himself.

He grabbed his good bottle of scotch, the same bottle of scotch that Bones drank from years earlier when she had came over and told him about being jealous of Cam, Angela and him confessing that she wanted to desire what they desired, love. Plopped on his couch and took the T.V. remote in hand. Hopefully, he could find something on T.V. to focus on instead of the pain that he was feeling. He started flipping through the channels, "It's A Wonderful Life". Hell no! CLICK. "White Christmas". No. CLICK. Some documentary on the Discovery Channel. No. CLICK. Shrek. No. CLICK. Everything reminded him of Bones. In between clicks, he took large swigs from the bottle of scotch. He turned off the T.V. Frustrated he threw the remote across the room, the room only being illuminated by a small lamp. He sat and thought about how wonderful last Christmas was. Ok, Santa getting blown up wasn't good and becoming evidence wasn't fun either. Bones undressing him may have been uncomfortable. Booth has dreamt about being undressed by her for years. And her undressing him for real was actually better than any dream than he had ever had. In his dreams though, there was kissing. He longed to taste her lips again. But at least he had his memories and his dreams. Having Christmas dinner as a "family" was one of his favorite memories.

_What did he have this year? A girlfriend that he loved? Why did he have to tell Bones that he had to move on? Why did he have to prove her right about love? Why didn't he actually say those three words, I love you, to her in front of the Hoover Building?_

He took larger gulp of scotch. He needed to get out of his head. The silence just made him think more. He surely didn't want to think anymore about Bones or anything else for that matter, the scotch was helping but just a little. He had to get rid of the silence.

Booth reluctantly got up off the couch. As he headed to the radio he noticed a picture of him and Bones that was taken last Christmas. He picked it up and a small sad smile came across his face. He put the picture back in its place and proceeded to the radio. He looked for a station that had Christmas songs on their full rotation, which he thought was the best idea even though he didn't feel very festive. But at least he wouldn't hear "Hot Blooded".

He went back and sat on the couch. His mind seemed to stop running a mile a minute. The loop of White Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and other traditional Christmas songs kind of made his thoughts about Bones disappear plus almost finishing the bottle of scotch didn't hurt either.

UNTIL…

The next song played. "Same Old Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelberg.

"Met my old lover in the grocery store  
The snow was falling Christmas Eve  
I stole behind her in the frozen foods  
And I touched her on the sleeve

She didn't recognize the face at first  
But then her eyes flew open wide  
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse  
And we laughed until we cried

We took her groceries to the checkout stand  
The food was totaled up and bagged  
We stood there lost in our embarrassment  
As the conversation dragged

We went to have ourselves a drink or two  
But couldn't find an open bar  
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store  
And we drank it in her car

We drank a toast to innocence  
We drank a toast to now  
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness  
But neither one knew how

She said she'd married her an architect  
Who kept her warm and safe and dry  
She would have liked to say she loved the man  
But she didn't like to lie

I said the years had been of friend to her  
And that her eyes were still as blue  
But in those eyes I wasn't sure if I saw  
Doubt or gratitude

She said she saw me in the record stores  
And I must be doing well  
I said the audience was heavenly  
But the traveling was hell

We drank a toast to innocence  
We drank a toast to now  
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness  
But neither one knew how

We drank a toast to innocence  
We drank a toast to time  
Reliving in our eloquence  
Another 'auld lang syne'

The beer was empty and our tongues were tired  
And running out of things to say  
She gave a kiss to me as I got out  
And I watched her drive away

Just for a moment I was back in school  
And felt that old familiar pain  
And as I turned to make my way back home  
The snow turned into rain."

That was it. Booth was to his breaking point. The emotions in Booth got too great. He put the bottle of scotch on the coffee table and put his head in his hands.

That's it. He sat back up straight on the couch. Grabbed his cell, and was just about to press 1 on his speed dial (Bones was still first on his speed dial, something that Hannah needed to know), when he thought he heard a knock on his door. Booth thought he was hearing things. He did have a nice buzz going. Then he heard it again.

He got up from the couch, cussing under his breath, _"Who the hell could be knocking at my door at this hour?", _and went to answer the door.


	2. Be Careful It's My Heart

****Disclaimer: I do not own anything with BONES or any songs in my stories. I just love Booth and Bones love story. ****

**Author's Note: A little holiday story. Here is the second part to SAME AULD LANG SYNE. I think that maybe this chapter was more solemn than I was hoping for. Guess it is a little solemn do in part to watching "The Doctor in the Photo" Hope you enjoy it. Feedback always welcome. ENJOY!**

He opened the door. There she was. She looked like an angel with the light from the hallway illuminating her with back light. It sounded corny and cliché that he thought that, but she did look like an angel wearing that same white jacket that she wore on that awful night in front of the Hoover Building. She was though his savior. She had saved him from himself so many years ago.

There she stood in the doorway, a bag of Thai take-out in one hand and a six pack in the other. Neither one of them spoke. They knew what the other was thinking. Even though, they were "apart" now they were still in sync with each other. She knew that Parker was with Rebecca in Aspen and that Hannah was away on assignment.

By looking at him, she knew he wasn't going to talk about what was wrong until he was ready. But she could tell that he was having a rough time, the hand impressions still on his face, where he had had his head resting a few minutes before. She had glanced over to the coffee table when he first opened the door and noticed the almost empty bottle of scotch on it.

He walked away from the doorway. He took the six-pack from her to put all but two in the fridge. She stepped into his apartment, neither one had spoke yet. He placed the six-pack on the kitchen counter and walked back to the radio to shut it off.

He put the now four-pack in the fridge and took the other two beers with him to the couch, where she was already sitting. Starting to pull out different containers of Thai out and putting them on the coffee table. He sat on the couch along side of her but not too close and placed a bottle of beer in front of each of them. Sitting in silence and both avoiding eye contact, she reached for a box of the Thai food and started to eat. He just stared at the mostly gone scotch and the silence was deafening. He knew she was waiting for him to speak, but he just wasn't ready yet. She knew when he was ready to speak he would, so she just continued eating in between taking sips from her beer. He couldn't take the silence anymore and he certainly still wasn't ready to talk yet. He went to turn the T.V. on, to kill the silence but forgot he threw the remote somewhere across the room. He cussed under his breath. He wasn't going to waste time looking for it now, so as he reached for his favorite Thai item he leaned over and turned the T.V. on. It was a commercial. Something, anything was better than the silence. He leaned back on the couch and started eating.

He just hoped whatever followed the commercial break wasn't something like "Miracle on 34th Street" or "It's A Wonderful Life". To his relief, it seemed to be a movie he had never seen before. The actors were familiar though, Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire but Booth couldn't recall this movie. _"Good, hopefully nothing too Christmasy," _he thought to himself.

Her eyes lit up. It brought her back to a happier time with her Mom, Dad and Russ. Even though, she wasn't on top of current pop-culture. She loved old movies and old movie starts. She knew the movie "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", which shocked Booth all those years ago. She was a fan of Bogart, John Wayne, Bing Crosby, all of them. She knew actually what movie this was, "Holiday Inn". She actually liked "Holiday Inn" much better than "White Christmas".

He noticed the glimmer of happiness come over her face from the corner of his eye. As he turned to face her, as he grabbed the bottle of beer off the coffee table, the glimmer had left her face and was replaced with the look of total heartache.

She never really let her emotions get the better of her, it wasn't logical. Especially, having an emotion reaction to a song, realizing what part of the movie it was and heartache filled her core. She put her empty box of Thai on the coffee table and sat back and closed her eyes hoping this feeling would just go away.

It was the part of the movie where Bing was singing with his back to his "love" only to have Fred Astaire "steal" her away.

"Sweetheart of mine, I've sent you a valentine  
Sweetheart of mine, it's more than a valentine  
Be careful it's my heart  
It's not the note I sent you that you quickly burned  
It's not the book I lent you that you never returned  
Remember it's my heart  
The heart with which so willingly I part  
It's your to take, to keep or break  
But please before you start  
Be careful it's my heart"

She never had let a song get to her before, but this time, that song, Bing crooning it out just hit her like a ton of bricks. This past year has been a tough one for both of them emotionally. She broke his heart and the words Bing just sung, hurt her. She was not careful with Booth's heart. She was trying to protect herself and him from her, but in the end she ended up hurting them both. Tears formed in her closed eyes and started rolling down her cheeks.

This was worse than "Same Auld Lang Syne". He felt his stomach churn. This last year had been rough on them both. He felt his tear ducts fill, but he wasn't going to let those tears fall. He looked over to Bones and noticed that there were tears on her cheeks. It was against his better judgment, but he moved closer to her, embraced her hand and wiped the tears off her cheek with his thumb. He wanted her to know that nothing really had changed between them even though it had kind of. He wiped the last of the tears off of her cheek, leaned over and turned off the T.V. again, never letting go of her hand.

She broke the silence, but of course not with talking about her feelings _"You know Holiday Inn is a very unrated movie." _He looked at her inquisitively. She continued. _"White Christmas gets a lot more air time than Holiday Inn. The song, "White Christmas" actually first appeared in Holiday Inn. I enjoy Holiday Inn better than White Christmas." _As she spoke, he never let go of her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles and she didn't pull it away.

She still never ceased to amaze him. With all her knowledge, ok she wasn't current on today's pop culture, but that was fine. That was one of the many things that he loved about her.

"_But he loved Hannah now didn't he? Wait, Bones is still the standard. What? I'm not going to think about this now!" _He shook all those thoughts out of his head for now.

Tomorrow he could have this debate with himself, but tonight it was about him and his partner. How she came here to his place unannounced, with Thai and beer just like the good friend she is, because she knew he was alone. She was just being the best friend she could be under the circumstances.

It scared them so much how much they were in sync with each other. They both took a sip of their beers. The moment of sadness for her passed, even now he felt a little better. She was there by his side. The center was whole again, even if it was just for the night.

They sat on the couch, drinking their beers, sitting in silence (but now the silence wasn't deafening, it was pleasant), his hand caressing hers, just enjoying each others' presence.

He thought to himself. _"So maybe this year the holiday wasn't going to be so bad after all." _And a smile came over his face.


End file.
